One of the few complaints I have about the 2021 Ford Bronco’s cosmetics is the way the door jambs look with the doors removed. Based on what I’ve seen, Jeep’s Wrangler does a better job looking designed to be doorless. But this problem’s been tackled before. By the Bronco, in fact.
The O.G. Ford Bronco had inserts that could be fitted to its square door frame giving the area some shape. This configuration is usually called “roadster doors.”
International Harvester had a similar solution for giving its Super Scout II a permanently doorless design without making the truck look like it had a big Minecraft-resolution bite had been taken out of it. Large black fiberglass inserts gave some curvature to this very square area and came with canvas flaps that were like tent doors to seal it off when desired.
The Scout solution was a little inelegant compared to the Bronco’s roadster doors, but that was sort of IH’s deal in general.
Anyway, in 2020, the Jeep Wrangler’s door design is cut in such a way that the vehicle still looks cool and flowing with the doors removed. The Bronco, while it doesn’t look bad with its doors off as-is, would really be a lot slicker if you could order a door insert to pop in while you’re running doorless.
That little curve at the back really goes a long way to making the stripped Jeep look good.
I know the Blue Oval kind of offers the opposite of this, with its “middle-part missing” door idea, but I feel like having something that doesn’t have to swing out at all would be extra sweet-looking.
We’ve joked about the usefulness of a folding windshield here before (it’s fun but terrible) and are usually kind of kidding. But doorless driving, well, that really is incredible and I highly recommend it if you don’t mind sacrificing a little safety for glory.
If Ford’s not planning on offering something like this already, I’m sure the aftermarket will oblige soon enough. Shout out to Ratchet when he’s all hopped up on synthetic energon (what a username!) for thinking of this earlier, too.